1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to communication systems such as voice paging systems, cellular telephone systems, text paging systems, voice mail systems, and conventional land line telephone systems and, more specifically, to methods, systems and apparatus for non-real-time audio and visual messaging between two messaging devices wherein a communication device receives visual messages from a visual message originator device and transmits audio messages (e.g., voice messages) to the visual message originator device for playback.
2. Discussion of the Background
A conventional mobile communication device (MCD), such as a pager or a mobile telephone, can receive various types of messages. There are numeric pagers which receive only numbers such as a telephone numbers (i.e. 818-555-1212), and there are alpha/numeric pagers which can receive alpha/numeric messages (e.g., Please call me at 929-555-1212). Additionally, there are voice pagers which receive voice messages. In addition to receiving messages, pagers are often configured to transmit messages. An alpha/numeric pager may be configured to receive alpha/numeric messages from an Internet-based computer and to transmit to the Internet-based computer originator alpha/numeric reply messages. Similarly, a voice pager that receives voice messages from a telephone-based originator can be configured to transmit a voice message to a voice mail system for retrieval by the originator via a telephone. In short, alpha/numeric pagers are configured to transmit alpha/numeric reply messages and voice pagers are configured to transmit voice reply messages.
In the field of wireless messaging generally, numeric and alpha/numeric messaging is, by far, more bandwidth efficient than voice messaging. Radio spectrum is a dwindling resource and wireless messaging companies are increasingly sensitive to their bandwidth efficiencies. Better bandwidth utilization means more capacity on the system. More capacity equates to more customers. Hence, the wireless messaging industry has migrated from voice paging to alpha/numeric paging in order to provide a bandwidth efficient, robust and high information content messaging service for their so called xe2x80x9croad warriorxe2x80x9d customers.
However, to date, there is no simple method for sending a message containing more than a small amount of information from an alpha/numeric pager. Generally, alpha/numeric pagers that have the ability to send messages are configured to transmit small, pre-programmed (xe2x80x9ccannedxe2x80x9d) text messages, such as xe2x80x9cI will call you tonightxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cyesxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cnoxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cI will reply later.xe2x80x9d Other alpha/numeric pagers have been configured with a miniature, QWERTY type, text keyboard. The miniature keyboards are difficult to type on because of their size. This makes input very slow, inaccurate and very annoying to operate. Additionally, the miniature size of the keyboard is still too large for a pocket-sized pager.
Audio pagers are generally larger than keyboardless alpha/numeric pagers, in part because of the large speaker required in order to reproduce a high quality, audible audio message. An audio pager""s battery life is lower than an alpha/numeric pager due to the amount of time it takes to receive a message and the amount of power required to process and play the message.
One solution to the above problem is to route a mobile telephone originated voice reply message to a computer. However, it""s simply not convenient to send a voice message via a mobile telephone, configure a computer to receive a voice reply message and then mentally correlate the sent and received messages together (i.e. Was the reply xe2x80x9csounds good to mexe2x80x9d meant to be an answer to the message, xe2x80x9cI will pay $140,000.00 for your homexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9clets have lunch tomorrow at the fish placexe2x80x9d).
A need, therefore, exists to blend audio (e.g., voice) and visual (e.g., text and/or graphics) messaging in a manner that conserves valuable bandwidth and simplifies user input of messages in a mobile communication device. An attempt to that end, is the so-called xe2x80x9csmart phone.xe2x80x9d Smart Phones are wireless mobile telephones that have added features, implying that they are smarter than the average telephone. These features may include a numeric and alpha/numeric messaging feature, a personal digital assistant (PDA), computer functions, Internet access, and a miniature keyboard. Similar to an alpha/numeric pager, many mobile telephones today are capable of receiving alpha/numeric messages and have the capability of connecting to the Internet for sending alpha/numeric reply messages via a miniature keyboard. There is a need to simplify the input of reply messages into wireless devices for delivery of the reply messages to the originating device, wherein both messages may be correlated.
In an alpha/numeric pager messaging environment, text messages are routinely exchanged between a computer and a text pager (i.e. text in/text out). In a voice pager messaging environment, voice messages are routinely exchanged between a telephone configured voice mail system and a voice pager (i.e. voice in/voice out). In a mobile telephone messaging environment, as with an alpha/numeric pager, text messages routinely are exchanged in non real-time (i.e. text in/text out). However, mobile telephones also have the ability to make and receive real-time voice calls. More often than not, when a mobile telephone user receives a text message requiring some type of response, he or she will simply use the mobile telephone to place a real-time telephone call to the message originator. In many cases, the line is busy because the originator is either on the phone or connected to the Internet. In either case, the mobile caller is diverted to a voice mail system or answering device and is instructed to leave a message, which is then retrieved by the called person at a later time.
Many people prefer to communicate by messaging as opposed to real-time conversation in order to manage their time. Thus, there is a need for a device that can not only send non real-time text messages, but also receive non real-time voice messages (i.e. text out/voice in). At the wireless side of the messaging loop, there is a need to send non real-time voice messages from the same mobile device that receives non real-time text messages (i.e. text in/voice out).
It is widely accepted in the field of two way paging, that only a fraction of received messages generate a reply message response. On the other hand, when text message reception capability is combined with a mobile telephone, the mobile telephone user will attempt to reply much more often via a real-time voice call. Mobile telephone companies call this process xe2x80x9ccall completionxe2x80x9d and it is highly favored among mobile telephone companies because additional calling generates more revenue. There is a need to increase reply traffic in a wireless environment without decreasing the efficiency of text message delivery to a mobile communication device. There is also a need to simplify the input of messages in a mobile communication device, such as a pager or wireless mobile telephone. Finally, there is a need for a wireless messaging system that provides end to end audio and visual messaging, wherein only one device is required at each end of the messaging loop (e.g., computer on the one end and mobile communication device on the other).
The present invention provides a communication system for integrating audio and visual messaging. The communication system includes a communication device for receiving visual messages and for transmitting voice messages to a recipient, and an integrated mail gateway for receiving from the communication device a voice message and addressing information. The integrated mail gateway is programmed to create an electronic mail (hereinafter xe2x80x9ce-mailxe2x80x9d) message comprising the voice message. The integrated mail gateway is also programmed to use the addressing information to address the e-mail message, and to send the addressed e-mail message to the recipient.
Preferably, the communication device is a wireless mobile communication device. However, this is not a requirement. The present invention is contemplated to be used with wireless as well as non-wireless communication devices.
In one embodiment, the communication system is used by a user of a communication device to send a voice message in reply to a received visual message. For example, consider the situation where a first person uses a messaging device with Internet e-mail capability to transmit a visual message to a second person. The communication system of the present invention enables the second person to easily transmit a voice reply message to the first user""s messaging device. In one embodiment, the second person uses a communication device (such as a conventional telephone or mobile telephone having visual message reception capability) to establish a telephone call with an integrated mail gateway (IMG) that preferably has access to the visual message sent to the second person. After the telephone call is established, the second person uses the communication device to transmit, or the communication device automatically transmits, to the IMG addressing information associated with the visual message received from the first person. For example, a keypad on the communication device could be used to transmit the addressing information, or a processor in the communication device can be programmed to automatically transmit the addressing information. In one embodiment, after the IMG receives the addressing information, it prompts the second user to begin speaking a voice reply message for the first person after hearing a tone. The IMG records and stores the voice reply message. Optionally, the IMG will format the voice reply message into a conventional audio file format. The IMG then creates an e-mail message and includes the voice reply message in the e-mail. Optionally, the e-mail message includes at least part of the received visual message to which the voice message is a reply. The IMG uses the addressing information provided by the mobile communication device to address the e-mail message. After the e-mail message has been addressed, the e-mail message can be sent to the first user. Upon receiving the e-mail message, the first user""s messaging device can play the voice reply message associated with the original visual message so that the voice reply message is heard by the first user.
Further features and advantages of the present invention, as well as the structure and operation of various embodiments of the present invention, are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.